Call for support for lads' club

ROCK stars are being urged to kick-start a £1m campaign for Salford Lads club. It was used by pop stars The Smiths for an iconic photo shoot, and former members include Allan Clarke and Graham Nash of The Hollies, who also used the club for rehearsals.

ROCK stars are being urged to kick-start a £1m campaign for Salford Lads club.

It was used by pop stars The Smiths for an iconic photo shoot, and former members include Allan Clarke and Graham Nash of The Hollies, who also used the club for rehearsals.

There are more than 200 club members, and every year youngsters are taken on a camping holiday to Wales, a tradition dating back to 1903 when the club was established. The facility is also used by organisations such as the Manchester Cobras Kickboxing Club and a mixed football team.

The money is needed for vital repairs and upgrades to the building, without which the future of the club is uncertain.

Support

Salford MP Hazel Blears spent an evening at the club to view the facilities and offered to support the campaign.

Footballing stars who were members of the club include Manchester United's Eddie Colman, who died in the Munich air disaster, fellow-Reds Alan Moody, Billy Garton and Jimmy Lancaster and Manchester City's Steve Fleet and Tommy Hill. Despite landing Grade II listed building status, the club will not survive without the extra funds.

Ms Blears said: "We should not lose this vital community asset and piece of living local history.

"It's a place that makes you feel instantly welcome.

"Many local business people, musicians and footballers have passed through the club's doors and I urge them to get in touch to put something back."

Unique

Club chairman Warren Smith, boss of developers LPC Living, said: "Getting listed building status is only the start for this unique resource. It is one of the few buildings of architectural importance still standing in Salford.

"We desperately need local businesses to volunteer time to renovate this historic building so it can be enjoyed by Ordsall children now and in the future."

LPC Living, which is volunteering to lead the campaign, and Salford council see the club as part of an integrated regeneration framework, which will bring a new range of family homes to the area as well as other facilities.